More than 90 percent of North Korea’s exports were bound for China in 2013, a report showed Wednesday, indicating that Pyongyang’s trade dependence on its main ally has deepened significantly over the past decade.

According to the report compiled by the Beijing office of the Korea International Trade Association, North Korea exported 90.6 percent of its products to China in 2013, much higher than the 50.9 percent tallied in 2003.

North Korea’s exports to China were estimated at US$400 million in 2003, but they jumped by more than sixfold to $2.9 billion in 2013, the report said.

Despite the increase, North Korean products accounted for only a small portion of China’s imports. The ratio of North Korean products in China’s total imports inched up from 0.1 percent to 0.15 percent over the measured period.

North Korea’s investment in China grew 12.6 percent to $2.68 million, most of which consisted of small-sized spending on shops and stores, the report showed.

China’s investment in North Korea, meanwhile, expanded sharply from $1.12 million to $86.2 million over the same period.

The number of North Koreans visiting China also surged 162.5 percent from 80,000 in 2003 to 210,000 in 2013. The report said that a large number of the people seemed to have visited the neighboring country in search of work.

Additional notes:

1. It is worth noting that the figure “90%” is slightly inflated. South Koreans do not count the DPRK’s trade with them as international trade–but rather “inter-Korean trade”. If you include South Korean trade in these data, the % of total trade conducted with China drops a small amount.

3. South Korean trade with the DPRK dropped from $1.976 billion in 2012 to approximately $1.1 billion in 2013 owing to a temporary closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. It will be interesting to see how the 2014 numbers turn out.